Attorney General Nick Brown’s office investigated incidents starting in 2021 and found that staff, including many nurses, were often denied accommodations.
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown is suing Providence Health & Services in King County Superior Court, alleging that Providence repeatedly failed to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant and nursing employees under state law.
The office said Wednesday it had investigated incidents dating back to 2021 and found that staff, including many nurses, were often denied access to accommodations such as private pumping spaces, flexible prenatal check-in times and breaks. Brown’s prosecutor’s office said this was the case even though Providence approved the arrangements on paper.
this suit It also accuses Providence of violating state law by retaliating against employees who requested exemptions, including firing them, forcing them to take leave or assigning them more difficult duties.
“Taking common-sense steps to keep pregnant and nursing employees and their babies safe and healthy is not optional — it’s the law,” Brown said. “Health care providers like Providence should know better.”
Providence is Washington State’s largest health care provider, operating more than 35 hospitals and a variety of outpatient facilities throughout the state. Brown’s office said the company will have net assets of $1.9 billion in 2024 and revenue of nearly $10 billion in 2025. Despite Providence’s size and technological advancement as a health care provider, the investigation found that Providence frequently failed to meet its legal obligations to pregnant and nursing employees.
“Employees often wait up to a month after requesting pregnancy accommodations without a response from Providence,” Brown’s office said. “During this time, they are expected to continue working without accommodations, putting their health and the health of their pregnancy at risk.”
Washington state law requires employers to allow more frequent sitting, limit lifting to 17 pounds or less, and allow pregnant and nursing employees to eat and drink. Prosecutor Brown said Providence violated all of those requirements.
In addition to these mandatory accommodations, employees may request other accommodations they may need, such as:
- Work or schedule reorganization;
- Modify employee equipment or workstations;
- Transfer to less hazardous or physically demanding work;
- Flexible arrangements for prenatal check-ups;
- additional rest time to express breast milk; or
- Provide other reasonable accommodations on a case-by-case basis.
Employers must provide these additional accommodations unless they can demonstrate that doing so would involve significant difficulty or expense. In many cases, Providence did not try to show that housing its workers would be difficult or expensive; Brown’s office said it simply declined the accommodation.
By law, employers are not allowed to require medical certification before granting some of these accommodations. However, Providence repeatedly required employees to provide notes from treating health care providers to demonstrate their need for accommodations, another violation of the law, the lawsuit alleges.
“The irony of some of the accommodations Providence employees are denied is profound. Thousands of pregnant patients travel to Providence facilities for prenatal care to keep them and their pregnancies safe, yet Providence denies its employees the opportunity to attend their own prenatal visits. Patients at Providence’s Swedish First Hill campus have access to state-of-the-art facilities to assist new parents with breastfeeding, but Providence’s own employees are denied adequate time and a convenient private space to express breast milk,” Brown said.
The incidents detailed in the lawsuit date back to at least 2021 and violate healthy start method and the Washington Anti-Discrimination Act. Before filing the lawsuit, the attorney general’s office said it had engaged with Providence regarding the concerns and sought to resolve the matter, but those discussions were unsuccessful.
The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, seeks to prevent Providence from continuing to violate state law and to secure damages to compensate employees whose rights were violated.
If you have experienced pregnancy discrimination while working at Providence or one of its affiliates (such as Kadlec, Swedish or PacMed), we want to hear from you. Please contact our Civil Rights Department at ProvidencePregnancyLawsuit@atg.wa.gov or call (833) 660-4877. Current and former employees can also use the AGO to submit complaints Online form.
